Updated 3:25 p.m. July 3
California has close to 2 million undocumented residents — and 8% of households include a family member without a permanent legal status.
Now, with President Donald Trump’s return to the White House, panic about his promised “mass deportations” — and raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — has hit communities throughout the state. And in the Bay Area, rumors of ICE sightings have spread alongside news of real, verified operations by immigration agents.
In the midst of this fear and uncertainty, Bay Area officials in San Francisco and Oakland have reiterated promises to be a sanctuary region for immigrants — meaning that local officials limit their cooperation with federal immigration agents. In turn, one of Trump’s Inauguration Day executive orders seeks to challenge these state-level sanctuary laws.
Despite California’s relatively strong stance on protecting undocumented families, people without legal status in the United States have always been at risk of federal actions. But in stressful, uncertain times like these, advocates have emphasized that one of the best things one can do is to know their rights.
Keep reading for what activists and legal experts say people should know about when dealing with immigration officers. It may also be helpful to carry a card that details your rights with you when you go out or in your home. You can find a printable version from the Immigrant Legal Resource Center.
Bear in mind that this is not legal advice, and it’s recommended that you consult an immigration attorney for guidance on your specific situation. (Jump straight to a list of free or low-cost lawyers in the Bay Area.)
ICE agents can sometimes wear uniforms or gear that suggests they are police officers or probation officers, according to the American Civil Liberties Union Southern California.
This can sometimes help agents enter a home without a warrant. In 2018, several San Francisco police commissioners called on ICE to stop these practices, saying it interfered with local policing.
ICE agents can also wear civilian clothes or plain dark clothing with a bulletproof vest.
Police officers, however, usually wear a more specific-looking uniform “with identifying insignias,” says ACLU SoCal.
ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are both immigration enforcement agencies within the Department of Homeland Security. ICE conducts enforcement within the U.S. and manages detention and deportation operations. CBP conducts inspections at all U.S. “ports of entry” — at land borders, seaports and airports. And the Border Patrol, which is part of CBP, polices the land borders in between the official ports of entry.
Similar to ICE, CBP officers may have “police” written prominently on their uniform. “U.S. Customs and Border Protection” may be written on their sleeve or on their back.
Federal law grants additional powers to CBP within a wide border zone that the government has defined as 100 air miles from an “external boundary” of the U.S. Within that zone — which covers most coastal cities in the country, as well as the entire Bay Area — CBP agents can stop and question people and board vessels, buses and trains to search for unauthorized immigrants without a warrant. They would still need a warrant — or consent — to enter a house, however.
Advocates stress your right to remain silent in all cases when it comes to encountering ICE agents.
If — for whatever reason — it’s not possible for you to remain silent, ACLU SoCal suggests taking the following steps — while prioritizing your physical safety:
Ask the right questions:
Make sure the encounter is witnessed somehow:
You can send the video or audio of the encounter to advocacy organizations, like using the ACLU’s Mobile Justice app, for them to evaluate whether the footage might show any potential abuses of authority. KQED also has a guide on your rights when filming officers and how to report ICE activity to local advocates.
Under the Fourth Amendment, if ICE agents or any law enforcement officer — comes to your door and wants to enter your home, they either need:
Agents could also technically enter without permission if they report hearing an emergency happening inside the home.
If you don’t want the agent to come in, legal advocates say, you don’t have to open the door unless the agent shows you a judicial warrant. (Advocates suggest asking the agent to slide the warrant under the door or hold it up to a window where you can read it so you don’t have to step outside.)
“ICE will often trick you into giving consent by saying they are investigating a crime or need to ‘take a quick look around’ or ‘come in to talk,” warns the National Immigrant Law Center (NILC).
If a judge does not sign the warrant, NILC says you can tell the agent that you do not want to talk right now.
Your rights are strongest in your home.
So, if you encounter ICE agents outside your home and you don’t have any documentation, you have the right to remain silent and refuse to answer any questions. You also have a right to a lawyer, although one may not be provided for you by the government.
The law requires noncitizens to carry their papers, such as a green card or Employment Authorization Document, with them — and if you have such papers, you should show them to the agent. You still, however, have the right to remain silent while you’re doing so.
ICE and CBP officers generally both need an administrative warrant (signed by an ICE or CBP supervisor) in order to arrest a person. However, they can make an arrest without a warrant if they see a person illegally entering the country or they have “reason to believe” a person is here illegally and likely to escape before they can get a warrant.
That said, even if an ICE agent proceeds with arresting you, you still have constitutional protections, including the right to remain silent so you don’t say something that could incriminate you. Immigration officers cannot detain you without “reasonable suspicion” of a crime, and they cannot search you or your belongings without “probable cause” — unless you give your consent.
ICE tends to go to a workplace for three reasons:
ICE agents can freely enter public areas of a workplace, such as a dining area in a restaurant, a parking lot or a lobby or waiting area. But it does not give them the right to stop, question or arrest just anyone in those spaces.
Agents cannot enter a private area of the business without permission or a judicial warrant. Ask to see this warrant, and see if it is signed by a judge. A judicial warrant is not the same as an administrative warrant, which is signed by an ICE supervisor and generally assists the agent in making arrests.
If an immigration officer comes to your place of work, you do not have to answer questions or answer questions about other employees. But the National Immigration Law Center stresses not to run away — instead, they recommend that it’s “safer to continue working, ask if you are being detained, and calmly ask if you may leave.”
If you have the ability to record the agents and if they do have a warrant, make sure they are doing what the warrant is allowing them to do.
You still have the right to remain silent and the right to a lawyer. However, you should not lie about your immigration status, according to the National Immigration Law Center.
Do not sign any documents without speaking to a lawyer first.
Note the officer who detained you by writing down their name and number.
You still have the right to receive calls when detained. The government will not provide you with a lawyer, so you or your family will need to secure one on your own.
Use ICE’s online system
If the person is an adult, you can use ICE’s own Online Detainee Locator System to search for them, or you can call (866) 347-2423.
You will need to have the person’s information, like:
According to the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, it may take a few days for a person to appear in this ICE database.
If the name you’re searching for isn’t showing up in the ICE system, or if you’re worried about their safety and possible deportation, you can seek out assistance from advocacy organizations like Freedom for Immigrants through their form online or by calling 209-757-3733. (There’s more on resources for free or low-cost legal support below.)
Check the Bureau of Prisons’ search tool
According to the NILC, this year, “CE began using prisons run by the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to hold people for immigration cases.”
You can use the Bureau of Prisons’ search tool to look up a person. NILC says that people who are being held by the Bureau of Prisons should also show up in the ICE online locator system.
If you know someone was detained nearby one of these prisons, you can try calling that individual facility too.
Looking for a minor?
If you are trying to find a minor you suspect has been detained, you can call ICE at 1-800-203-7001.
You can also email the Office of Refugee Resettlement at information@ORRNCC.com.
Reach out to an ICE field office
The ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations field office is in San Francisco, with an area of responsibility that includes Northern California, Hawaii, Guam and Saipan.
You can contact theSF field office – which is located at 630 Sansome Street – by phone at (415) 365-8800 or by email at SanFrancisco.Outreach@ice.dhs.gov.
Please note: NILC warns that if you’re calling or emailing a field office, “don’t give more information than you need to,” and “only give the necessary A number or basic information, like name and country of birth, that you would use in the online locator.”
If you can’t reach anyone at the field office, San Francisco has an ICE Community Relations Officer, who can be reached at CommunityRelations.SanFrancisco@ice.dhs.gov.
Call a detention facility
ICE’s website lists five detention facilities associated with the agency’s San Francisco field office, but not all of them are in the Bay Area or even California.
If you know someone is being held at a detention facility, you can call to try to get more information about them. The facilities include:
According to ICE’s website, people detained cannot receive incoming calls. You would have to leave a message with the office, along with the detainee’s full name, alien registration number, as well as your name and telephone number where you can be reached.
Contact the person’s consulate
According to the NILC, “All immigrants in ICE jails have the right to contact their country’s consulate.”
You can also try contacting this office yourself in an effort to find a person. However, the NILC strongly suggests that you do not do this if the person is applying for asylum or fears for their life back in said country.
KPBS, the NPR and PBS station of San Diego, has a video guide on how to use publicly available data released by ICE:
@kpbssandiego Did you know that the federal government has a public spreadsheet that shows you exactly who is being held in immigration detention? It gives you an up-to-date picture of what is going on around the country, and is available for anyone to look up at any time. KPBS San Diego’s border reporter Gustavo Solis is here to show you how to access it. #sandiego #border #usmexicoborder #ice #immigration ♬ original sound – KPBS San Diego
Immigration advocates highly encourage people who think they have seen ICE sightings in their neighborhood to call them instead of posting on social media. With these hotlines, the advocates can fact-check these sightings. This practice aims to prevent the spread of misinformation online, which can ripple to larger panic in the community.
These numbers can change, so be sure to visit California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice’s updated hotline list on their website.
More contacts can be found on California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice’s website.
Selected resources for free or low-cost legal support:
This story contains reporting from KQED’s Tyche Hendricks.
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